Etymologically
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posticus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [pɔsˈtiː.kʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [posˈtiː.kus][1]

Forms

postīcus (feminine postīca, neuter postīcum); first/second-declension adjective[1] An inscription of Curubi has posteicuus, which the OLD takes as a spelling of postīquus.[2] The TLL confirms the long ⟨ī⟩ from the poets.[3]

Etymology

It is from Latin post (“behind, after”) + -īcus,[2][1][3] formed like antīcus from ante.[2][4] De Vaan explains it as Proto-Indo-European *posti-h₃kʷ-o- (“facing the back”), with the same second part as ⟨antīcus⟩.[5] The preposition goes back to Proto-Italic *posti (“behind, after”) and Proto-Indo-European *pos(ti) (“after”).[5] The grammarian Priscian already derived it from ⟨post⟩.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has it of a back door: est etiam hīc ōstium aliud postīcum nostrārum aedium, “there is also another door at the back of our house here”.[4][5][6]

Semantic evolution

It was used above all of buildings and their parts, situated at the back:[2] Varro speaks of back walls and the back part of a house,[4] and Livy of the rear of a house.[4] Persius has grimaces made behind someone's back, postīcae sannae,[4] and Solinus the hind feet of an animal.[4][7] As nouns, postīca and postīcum meant a back door;[7] postīcum also meant a back building, the rear of a temple, and the backside.[7] Land surveyors called the side of a plot facing away from them postīca, opposite antīca.[7][4]

In Medieval Latin, especially as a noun, it was a back door or postern;[8] an Anglo-Norman glossary renders it by ⟨posterne⟩.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a back door.[4][5][6]
  • end of the 2nd or beginning of the 1st century BC – Titinius uses postīcum of a back building.[7][6]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of the back part of a house.[4][6]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of the rear of a house.[4][6]
  • 34–62 AD – Persius speaks of grimaces made behind someone's back.[4][6]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Situated at the back, rear, hind (especially of buildings).[2][4]
  2. (Medieval Latin, as a noun) A back door, postern.[8]

Word family

  • postīca
  • postīcum

Usage notes

The TLL records a separate fourth-declension noun postīcus “back gate”, formed like porticus, in an inscription of Curubi from about 47 BC.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  8. ^ a b c Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press